Yuen: What does it mean to be ‘spiritual,’ if not religious, in Minnesota?

When Annika Peterson glides along a frozen lake on her cross-country skis, she feels something sacred.

On a blindingly sunny afternoon in Minneapolis, the 25-year-old can let go of the stress of her teaching job and explore the connection between mind and body — just by being outside.

“It’s honestly a spiritual experience,” she tells me.

But don’t call her religious.

Despite having grown up Lutheran, Peterson is among a younger cohort of Americans who are disentangling themselves from organized religion. The latest findings from the Pew Research Center, released Wednesday, show that 29% of Minnesotans claim no religious affiliation, compared with 12% in 2007. That mirrors a national trendline.

While the decades-long shift away from religion is not surprising, what is staggering is the share of Americans who still consider themselves spiritual. The same survey found that 86% believe humans have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body.

“I was trying to think of anything else that 86% of Americans agree on, and I couldn’t think of anything,” said University of Minnesota sociologist Penny Edgell, who studies religion and non-religion. “That’s remarkably high.”

We may not fill the pews. We may not keep kosher. We may not fast or pray five times a day. But spirituality among Americans remains sky high.

One reason is that practicing spirituality has become accessible and diffused into everyday life, Edgell says. Beyond wiccan meet-ups and taizé chanting, you can practice yoga and meditation in many workplaces. Grade schools teach mindfulness. Target sells gratitude journals and bestselling books about awakening the heart and mind. Podcasts can walk you through breathing exercises and even the science behind spirituality.

“It’s everywhere,” she said. “It’s easy now.”

Granted, some of our strong sense of spirituality in this country is fueled by the traditionally religious: The Pew study found that after many years of decline, the share of adults who identify as Christian appears to have leveled off since 2019, with six in 10 Americans now identifying as Christian. And in Minnesota, 3% of respondents were Muslim, triple the share from 2014.

As churchgoing and daily prayer becomes more optional, some religious and cultural experts believe even the secular are searching for the divine.

Tony Jones of Edina, a theologian and former pastor who wrote the book “The God of Wild Places,” is wrapping up a study of 12,000 non-religious Americans, otherwise known as “nones.” (The term comes from multiple-choice questions on religion surveys, in which “none of the above” or “nothing in particular” is frequently an option.)

He reminds me that in the not-so-distant past, the year 1900, about 96% of Americans considered themselves Christian. Today, just 62% do.

And while the Pew study suggests that the percentage of Americans who say they have no religion may have hit a ceiling over the past few years after rapid growth over decades, there are now close to 100 million “nones” in the country. That’s massive.

“There’s been a radical seismic shift in how we organize ourselves as a culture and a society,” he said.

So how are people connecting with a higher power or chasing a sense of awe in the everyday? Preliminary results from Jones’ survey found that spending time in nature is the No. 1 way that the non-religious are having spiritual experiences.

Other activities the respondents mentioned include meditation, live music, prayer, psychedelics and crystals.

Decades ago, academics dismissed this cohort of spiritual-but-not-religious types as “flaky,” Edgell said. That could be because sociologists historically have championed mainstream religion, linking participation in religious communities with such positive effects as civic involvement, strong mental health and political engagement.

In more recent years, however, “our negative stereotypes of spirituality are starting to be challenged,” she said. “It’s associated with increased well-being. It motivates people to be involved in civic life. It does seem to be associated with more political involvement.”

The day I stumbled into Peterson, the skier who fell away from religion, it was an act of serendipity, almost as if she descended from the sky. She was the first person I stopped to question about spirituality when the sun emerged last weekend, bathing the snow blanketing Cedar Lake in a blazing white. (Her mom directs the Lutheran center at St. Olaf College in Northfield, so Peterson is used to having these conversations.)

Peterson identifies as queer, though that’s not why she left the church. Growing up, her socially progressive church in St. Paul was accepting and affirming. But as she got older, “it just didn’t feel like it was for me anymore,” she said, noting that her congregation skewed heavily white and older. “I think that is how a lot of people our age feel.”

When Peterson stopped attending Sunday services, her parents worried that she would miss out on opportunities to connect with others and be part of something bigger. But Peterson says even away from the pews, she’s found “a loving group of friends and community to share life with.”

Studies confirm that younger Americans are far less religious than older adults. The Pew survey found that those between 18 and 24 are much less likely than those 74 and older to pray daily or attend religious services at least once a month.

Jones, the former pastor from Edina, recently lunched with two friends — a husband and wife in their 80s from rural North Dakota. He asked how many of their kids and grandkids went to church.

“None,” they replied.

The wife added, “That’s not how they were raised.”

Yet it was no surprise to Jones, who has also stopped going to church. He’s currently working on a new book that explores how people are fulfilling their spirituality needs. That topic deserves more serious attention and study.

“More and more Americans are like, well, how are crystals and tarot so different from believing that God wrote the Bible 3,000 years ago?“ he said. ”We all have our things that we latch onto and give us meaning.”